Rumors
by Luna Ligerstripe
Summary: Rumors, spreading across the clan, like cracks across breaking ice. The old deputy isn’t dead. What if the old deputy comes back? He won’t be deputy if she comes back. [Warriors]
1. Rumors

Gift for torn (Aka Taiin Sukonku)

I don't own Warriors. If I did, well, stuff would happen.

Try to figure out who it is as you're reading ;3

xxx

It was a hollow victory, really.

He was deputy. _Deputy. _As in, will become leader someday. (No, he can't die. Because the leader will die, first.)

But it feels so hollow. Rumors, spreading across the clan, like cracks across breaking ice.

_The old deputy isn't dead._

_What if the old deputy comes back?_

_He won't be deputy if she comes back._

He scoffs, ignoring these rumors. They all send each other glances at the tension in his voice as he gives out patrols. But they don't say anything.

(Because they don't need to)

But there are other rumors, perhaps, that hurt more (_No, they shouldn't hurt more, what if father finds out? But Father had a mate!_)

_Loved her? He loved her? Absurd!_

_She didn't look like she was going to have kits. Maybe when she comes back…_

_If she comes back, will he willingly give up deputy position? I mean, he does love her…_

And he can't hide the heat in his cheeks, or the awkward twitch of his whiskers.

Because it's hard to deny a rumor that's true.

xxx

First attempt at kitty love. I think it turned out pretty well. But, well, it's your thoughts that matters, so why don't you review and tell me?...

Hope ya like it, torn ;3


	2. Whispers

This is the last thing I expected to add a second chapter to. But I did. WTF.

And no, it's not Tigerclaw or Oakheart. But close ;3

I don't own warriors

xxx

Love, it seemed, could sneak in, undetected, and infect someone. In that way, love was a virus; or maybe it was a bit more like food poisoning.

Yes. He had eaten a bad fish. He had a fever, which explained the heat in his cheeks, and extreme sensitivity, like the twitch of whiskers and prickled of fur (when she walks past). Yet, deep in him, he couldn't belive that.

And in the blink of the moon's eyes, rumors aren't contained to just the river's edge.

_What? He loves her? Are you serious?_

_Oh, she's back? That's great! But, tell me if what I heard is true…_

_Isn't it romantic? And it means Riverclan will have some new kits!_

(There's a way to stop the rumors, isn't there? Before….Before brother find out…But it's probably reached Thunderclan already)

As whispers are exchanged as lightheartedly as a piece of fresh-kill, he doesn't hesitate to bare his fangs and _snap_.

The startled apprentices scramble to sit up straight like frightened prey. They mutter something about "training" or "hunting patrol" and scramble off like a dog after a juicy scent.

But they stop at the entrance of camp, and drool like some fat rabbit has just wandered in. their words are cloyingly sweet, but they rip through him like badger's claws.

_Hello to you too_, she says back, and, _how's training?_

_Good, fine, I learned a new attack from Blackclaw, _or_, Mosspelt says I'll be a warrior soon!_

Clan small-talk, but the vicious gleam like his own flesh and blood doesn't play good for him.

_There are so few queens in the nursery…_ For something said so softly, why does it hurt so much?

(_Deputies are forbidden territory, and don't even start on leaders. Choose yourself a sweet warrior who'll love you even when you're leader_)

He watched, nervous as a little kit, as she glanced towards the romping kits outside the nursery.

_Yes, you're right…But no, I'm not going to have kits. Don't think I haven't heard the rumors._

His heart skipped a beat, while he could feel her gentle gaze dig into his brown coat.

_You shouldn't believe everything you hear, you know. Now, run along._

They couldn't do anything but turn tail, defeated, to the apprentice's den.

She began to stalk off, too, and under her voice, muttered something. So quietly, it would have slipped anyone else's ears. (But not his.)

_There's always some truth in those rumors._

xxx

Um. Not much to say. Cookies to whoever figures out what the pairing is first.

R&R

Luna Ligerstripe


	3. Breaking Point

Congrats to Mossclaw, who guessed right- it's HawkfrostxMistyfoot! Surpised? Enjoy the last chapter of Rumors, because I'm going to end it this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own warriors.

**Sunset spoilers. Read at your own risk.**

xxx

It seemed that rumors could take hold of a clan like killer vines encircling some poor tree. And once those rumors caught on, they never let go.

It didn't occur to him that they too, like a vine, needed nourishment; the brush of a tail tip along his pelt, or the way she always seemed to go on the same patrol as him.

But fortunately, she was smarter than this.

_Or_, it occurred to him with a pang of envy,_ she's found someone else._

Even so, rumors spread even more quickly, for the ice was already half broken.

And one day, all it took was one word- _love_- and the thin ice he walked on broke beneath him. Shards of memories and the scent of fur gave way as he plunged into the icy water that lay just below his broken ice.

_But the water was so numbing, so gentle and unmoving, compared to the harsh rip of the rumor's edge._

It was there, hanging between insanity and reality, that he decided one thing;

He would never love anyone. Not now, not ever. _Never again._

xxx

And much later, lying in the freezing water, and watching his blood drain into the lake, he wondered one thing.

If he had chosen love over power, maybe he would live to see himself leader?

Well, he would have eternity in the dark forest to figure that out.

With half-shut eyes, he could only see the red of the lake. But in the dying sun, in looked more…pink. Wasn't that the color of love?

Strange. It all looked red when it began to fade to black. Perhaps the ice had always been red?

But that red ice slipped away into the night, along with the rumors. Death, he realized, was the only thing that could stop them.

xxx

Finally done. Hope you all enjoyed it! The end, I admit, was a bit awkward to write.

Read and Review!


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